A CONTROVERSIAL planning application to build 24 homes on the old Hurst Show site fields currently has far more objectors than supporters.
But Hurst Village Society has told Wokingham Borough Council they’re not supporting or objecting to the planning application to build the new homes.
Many villagers were surprised when they discovered last year that the society told the council the land in School Road, near the primary school, was suitable for development.
There were pleas for the society to consult their 250 members over the proposals before making a submission over the proposal for 24 homes on the green space.
Some members say they were not asked. Requests for responses from members was posted on the HVS website, but members say they should have been directly asked. The deadline for comments was last Thursday.
Replying to the council’s consultation about the new plan, John Osborne from the society’s committee said: “Hurst Village Society has on this occasion decided not to make any specific recommendations in relation to either supporting or objecting to the scheme.”
The letter also revealed that out of the society’s 250 members just two had replied to the society’s request for views: both objected to the plan.
A village resident’s count of the replies to the council’s consultation shows 190 objections, 25 comments in support and the HVS committee comment.
The village society comment posted on the borough council’s planning portal included: “The Society, as it always does, has published details of this application on our website together with direct links to the WBC Planning Portal and we requested comments from members to inform this response.
“Two responses were received both of which were wanting to object to this application.”
It continued: “The Society is pleased that a number of our members have individually made a submission, a number objecting to the proposals, and some in favour of the application, and that Hurst Parish Council will be formally responding as the statutory consultee, but Hurst Village Society has, on this occasion, decided not to make any specific recommendations in relation to either supporting or objecting to this application.”
The society’s letter also referred to its difficulty commenting when the borough’s draft local plan, detailing plans for housebuilding to 2036, was at its early stages, when there was no five-year supply of borough housing land, and no Local Neighbourhood Plan to refer to.
A Hurst resident, who did not want to be named, said: “They (HVS) have not consulted their members before commenting on this application. Why [didn’t] the committee ask the members what they think?
“The HVS website says that membership is open to ‘all persons who wish to protect the rural character of villages along the River Loddon’. It would seem logical to conclude that those members would not want to see the rural character of the village eroded by development outside the development limit.”
The resident said HVS had made no attempt to get out their request for members’ views even by email, or by other means for members without email.
Wokingham Borough Council will decide whether to give the scheme planning permission.
Hurst Village Society was contacted for a comment, but had not responded as we went to press.
